Fifth-ranked Yellow Jackets use three TDs from Brandon James to cool off Nease 52-35 in District 6-3A

Nease's anticipated district matchup with No. 5 St. Augustine High School ended with the Yellow Jackets taking the statistics and the verdict in a match where defense proved optional.

SAHS (5-0, 1-0 in District 6-3A) outscored the Panthers 52-35 Friday night, using a three-touchdown game from sophomore tailback Brandon James to outlast Nease (4-1, 0-1 in 6-3A). It's the 10th consecutive meeting SAHS has beaten the Panthers.

James was as elusive as he was marvelous, running for 199 yards on 12 carries. He scored on field-stretching runs of 55 and 48 yards, and took a kickoff back 94 yards, igniting a SAHS offense that chewed 444 yards on the ground.

James' fireworks one-upped a masterful showing from Nease sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow, who threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for two more.

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Tebow had 194 yards on the ground and threw for 209 more. But the area's best offense couldn't atone for a phantom Panthers defense that allowed 42 second-half points and was left in the dust the entire second half. Nease allowed six plays that went for 25 yards or more.

"I tell you what, Nease is a good football team," said SAHS coach Joey Wiles. "I knew they'd get their points."

A dogfight at half, SAHS turned a 10-7 game into an apparent runaway with a wicked third quarter.

James took the opening kickoff back 94 yards, then ripped off a 55-yard run on the Yellow Jackets' first offensive series to put SAHS in front 24-7.

Tebow (17-for-27, 2 TD, INT) kept Nease breathing the entire game, bringing the Panthers back from the brink of a blowout nearly every possession of the second half. Trailing 45-28 with 3:40 to play in the fourth, Tebow took the snap, rolled left to right in the pocket and couldn't find his No. 1 receiver, Will Oakley, downfield.

Bouncing off the SAHS pass rush, Tebow floated a pass down the left sideline and put the ball between the corner and safety and into the hands of Adam Hedrick.

Hedrick was in a small corridor near the goal line and brought down the heave in traffic. The 51-yard scoring play with 3 minutes, 18 seconds left trimmed SAHS' lead to 45-35.

"We got behind, but we never gave up," Tebow said. "We just kept fighting."

James made sure it wouldn't stay close for long. After a failed on-side kick attempt, the Yellow Jackets took over at the 48 and James went did the rest.

He went through the Nease defense and almost unscathed into the end zone.

"I'm trying to learn more each time I go out there," James said. "The offensive line did a great job blocking for me and I just ran through the holes."

James' run proved the dagger for Nease.

Tebow tried to salvage something for the Panthers, but his final throw of the game was intercepted by a diving Shawn Holmes on a Nease third-and-11 with just over two minutes to play.

While the Panthers amassed yardage seemingly at will after halftime, they couldn't manage any type of stop when they needed. Nease was able to pierce the SAHS backfield and appeared to have multiple plays stuffed for losses. But missed tackling was proved brutal.

James' kickoff return to open the third was a mixture of great blocks, and a bushel of missed tackles that set the theme for the second half.

Of the Yellow Jackets two offensive touchdowns in the third, both were triggered by third-down conversions. James' 55 yarder that pushed SAHS in front 24-7 came on a third-and-7, and Ronnie McKnight's 1-yard plunge was preceded by his 45-yard burst on a third-and-short.

"I felt that set the tone for the game," Wiles said of James' kickoff return. "That was huge for us. But it was short-lived."

Tebow, the 15th-ranked quarterback in the state, proved every bit as good as advertised. He bulldozed countless tacklers, and was nearly impossible to bring down.

"He's a good player, but I like my guys, too," Wiles said. "I love my two quarterbacks. I wouldn't trade them."

The biggest missed chance for the Panthers in the opening half came at the end of a monster run by Tebow.

On a third-and-2 from his own 28, Tebow scanned the field for an instant, found nothing and went through a crack in the left side of the line. He shrugged off a trio of SAHS tacklers, went through the linebackers and outran the secondary for what appeared to be a momentum-shifting score before the break.

But an official tossed a flag that nullified the score, and Nease took over at the SAHS 27. Taylor Murray fumbled on the following carry, and the Yellow Jackets recovered.

Yet Nease didn't bend. SAHS drove the field, using a 33-yard from James to get into Panthers' territory. But quarterback Carlton Smith tried to go deep down the left sideline, and defensive back Jonathan Gibbs was right there to catch it.

Gibbs' interception, his fifth this season, sparked one final Nease drive before halftime.

Tebow led the Panthers on an 11-play drive in the final 49 seconds of the second, getting Nease to the SAHS 10 on a swing pass to Jon Pettry.

The field goal attempt, a chip shot at 27 yards, was fallen by a bad snap that kicker Dan Shannon couldn't put through the post, as SAHS clung to a 10-7 lead.

The only offense the Panthers could get in the first came off an SAHS fumble on the Yellow Jackets' first snap of the game. Nease recovered, went 34 yards down the field and capped the drive on a 6-yard run by Taylor Murray.

A Steve Ray field goal with 3:01 to play before half proved the only other offense in the first before the team's combined to score 35 in the third.

The area's leading receiver Will Oakley was the main recipient of a chunk of Tebow's pass attempts, bringing in seven receptions for 112 yards. He had one touchdown. Hedrick had five grabs for 89 yards.

SAHS' Ronnie McKnight chewed up 88 yards on just 10 carries, and scored twice. Bryon Rizzi also scored, going 53 yards in the third quarter for a touchdown.